A Chunk of My Youth Died Today

Okay so obviously I'm late in the game. Obviously I shouldn't have remained glued to the radio all day, or the T.V., or tried to break the news as it happened to P. Diddy who was on a shoot today from my minivan. I obviously shouldn't feel bad that Farrah suddenly became a fast and hard footnote at about 12:30pm Pacific today. But damn it all, I do. I grew up watching J5 in it's various incarnations (loved their animated show as a kid) or playing with my Jill doll's hair and dressing her in hip 70's outfits. I coveted my sister's We Are the World record, and marveled at the strength of a battered woman pushed too far in the Burning Bed, still using it as a joke warning to men who recognize the reference to this day.

I admit, I am no stranger to partaking in some rousing ribbing when it comes to the darker side of their legacies. Truth told, when all is said and done, I don't really care about the scandals and sensationalism, both of which shared a-plenty. For me and for now, the good deeds outweigh the bad by a loooong country mile. I imagine I'm not alone. A big part of my childhood and adolescence died today in these two. Two who died way too young and for one in particular, so suddenly. Still I pray they both found a peace that they perhaps were not destined to enjoy in life by their very stature. And I pray that there really is an afterlife, so that they can reunite with their loved ones once again.

Rest in peace Angel...King of Pop. May your loved ones find some measure of solace amid the frenzied love of fans instead of the slings of naysayers in the coming days and weeks.

Leaving a Lasting Impression

In this visually motivated market, leaving a positive, lasting impression is key to generating consumer interest in a company. Here are some reasons why it pays to properly invest in the promotion of one's business.

A successful business doesn't just rely on location, location, location anymore. Visual promotions like business cards, a web site, logo and advertisements represent your company in your absence, long after your face to face meeting with a potential client has faded into memory. They can virtually speak volumes on the quality of service and product you are promoting to provide.

Take business cards as an example. They are the most popular and widely used promotional collateral in the business world—nearly everyone has one. Often to cut a few corners in the budget, entrepreneurs repeatedly make an even more costly decision to forego hiring an experienced professional who understands how to tailor an attractive and effective look for their company. By utilizing inexpensive pre-fabricated cards or by leaving design execution in inexperienced hands who create pretty pictures instead of potent brands, a valuable, prominently visible, promotional resource meant to generate consumer interest fails to attract new business outside of referrals. What started out as an opportunity to save a few bucks may have unwittingly ended in missing out on potential clients that they never even knew they had.

Here's a fun little exercise. Pull out your business card and take an objective, impersonal look at it. Picture yourself as a customer who knows little to nothing about your company. There isn't a shopper alive that doesn't want to be sure that they're investing their hard earned cash in a quality service or product. Your card should not only contain the required contact information, it should also aesthetically emote this commitment through your brand and it's design layout as a reaffirmation of this guarantee—potential clients should psychologically feel confident that you can deliver. So, does your card exude this quality assurance of service you hope to provide, or will they pass yours up in favor of a competitor?

Feel free to take the same little exercise with the rest of your promotional collateral, or even your business' logo identity. Take the extra step and compare it to cards, ads or other collateral that you like. Whether it will ultimately end up being "fun" or not, depends on how effective you feel the current state of your brand marketing is.

Projecting professionalism through one's web site should be equally important. It leaves as indelible an imprint on unique visitors as a business card would. As with any marketing promotion, it's there to provide the viewer with pertinent information—range of services, product line, contact information and an image gallery. However, the site's interface should also pique a visitor's curiosity enough to make them want to learn more about what you might have to offer, or to ideally bookmark it as a resource or reference.

A web design layout that doesn't quite align with one's brand goals, even one that has all of the necessary information, might inadvertently leave an undesirable imprint to a potential client. That could lead to wondering "what could have been"—even with all the right information it may very well receive a decent amount of traffic, however if it's creative and functional potential were reached it could have accomplished so much more.

Effective design isn't just about making something attractive looking, it's about making it attractive to the right people and through optimum channels. It's one earmark in leaving a lasting impression which in turn strengthens a brand. Accomplishing that end isn't simply a matter of picking any random professional to do the job, either. A Creative or firm should also be able to visually understand how to forge an indelible connection between brand and consumer.

You've invested a great deal into the success of your business, it only makes sense to ensure that every facet of your company is working towards leaving the best, lasting impression to make that ultimate goal a reality.

Two Little Hands image by Dagmar Jeffrey.
Storefront image and web site still source: Peabody Gallery.
All rights reserved.

Forum Anecdotal Nuggets: Calling it Quits

Most, if not all of us have come close to throwing the creative towel at one point or another during our career or studies. When our dreams fail to neatly fall into place once we wake up, should we heed our inner voice and pack it all in?

In one such case, a college senior posted a project for a review, not expecting the lukewarm reception it received. Although the critiques weren't necessarily cutting, the responses were enough for the student to seriously reconsider her major.

The fact of the matter is, if you don't have a paying design gig or haven't been exposed to real work in some way (as an intern for example), it doesn't matter if you're valedictorian in your class, you're still "starting out" in this business. Even then, professionals still receive their fair share of "surprise" critiques now and again.

Designers naturally tend to put out a bit of themselves into every piece they create—it's what defines our individual style. However, those outside the field, whom we call "clients" and toil to satisfy seldom appreciate that, nor really care so long as they're happy with the end results. More often than not, their less constructive observations are partially motivated by two factors: time and getting the most out of their investment.

As unpleasant as it may be, don't become too unraveled from a negative forum critique. If you do then perhaps you should question whether this business is right for you. It won't get any easier once you enter the market. I've seen women AND men reduced to tears when their talent was openly challenged. This industry can be as merciless as it is rewarding—you need to develop some thick skin and learn to not only roll with the punches, but glean the constructive critiques from the negative to improve and grow.

That said, I still had to applaud the original poster for putting her project up for scrutiny in a public forum. Rather than be satisfied with only her school's resources, she (perhaps unwittingly) took the direction of her career into her own hands to improve upon her skills. She stepped outside of the bubble—quite admirable. Many folks are afraid to publically subject themselves to any negative feedback and become defensive when they do. That sort of trepidation will more than likely stunt their growth in the long run. I can guarantee that even though the comments were an eye opener for this student, if she doesn't give up she won't regret her decision.

University design programs not with standing, there are plenty of completely self-taught designers who's work kick ass because they took matters into their own hands, supplemented their studies by buying books on various design principles, or joined respected creative forums for guidance and improvement, among other things. They took action.

You're likely going to discover on your own, should you remain in this biz, that design is a life-long learning process. We ALL continue to be students—our goal is to always continue to improve our game, whether it's on our own or through other means. Perhaps, camaraderie aside, that's why we join forums to begin with.

Overall, I think it's safe to say that the forum critiques—whether they are curt or coddling—are generally meant in the spirit of helping one to learn, grow and improve. However the reality is that in this alpha driven industry, with so many deadlines and big money clients breathing down your neck, you will likely run into a situation where the responses will reflect the same caliber of harsh observations one is subjected to in the professional arena. The trick is to keep an open mind, read between the lines, work to apply the helpful suggestions and ditch the rest.

If, after all is said and done, you still feel like quitting after a lackluster review or three instead of re-applying yourself, then perhaps you do need to rethink your career path after all.